Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Socialist bashes Royal

Former French Education Minister Claude Allegre, who hired Socialist candidate Segolene Royal in 1997 as schools minister, is releasing a damning portrait of Royal in his upcoming book. According to the article, these attacks aren't anything new, but are his most detailed and harsh. Here are some of Allegre's words:

"I found her to be haughty and distant with aides and staff, especially the junior ones. Her smile only appeared when it proved useful. She had no sense of humour.

Sadly however, it very quickly emerged that Segolene could not manage her ministerial department at all.

As far as I am concerned, Segolene Royal is someone without very structured political thought, who neither works nor thinks much about the major problems.

What she has are practical ideas about everyday situations. She knows how to reach out to people by offering solutions to their little problems.

One shouldn't be surprised that after having worked alongside her, my overriding sentiment is one of worry."

If this wasn't enough, Allegre even had to partially shift the blame of hiring Royal on someone else, saying that "he chose Royal to be his deputy partly because the then prime minister, Lionel Jospin, wanted more women in his government team."